Torso

[modage]

Fincher has stomach for 'Torso'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

David Fincher is carving out room in his schedule for "Torso," a thriller based on a graphic novel written by Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andrey-ko, which he will direct for Paramount Pictures. Ehren Kruger is writing the adaptation, which will be produced by Pandemonium's Bill Mechanic, Angry Films' Don Murphy and comic artist Todd McFarlane. "Torso" tells the true but relatively unknown story of Treasury Department agent Eliot Ness' time after his Al Capone days, when he moved to Cleveland to be the city's public safety officer. Torsos began appearing in the river, and Ness began receiving notes taunting him to catch the killer. Ness, who had no experience in police work, put together a team of ex-officers to apprehend the serial murderer. The graphic novel was written by Bendis and Andreyko and drawn by Bendis in the late 1990s. Bendis has since gone on to become one of the top writers in comics, with acclaimed runs on "Daredevil" and "Ultimate Spider-Man." Several of his creator-owned comics are in development around town, including "Jinx," which is set up at Universal Pictures with Charlize Theron attached.

a third serial killer film would be a strange career move.  unless it was his 'trilogy' and then it makes perfect sense.

[polkablues]

 






This will be amazing.  To anyone who hasn't read the graphic novel: do it.  Put down whatever you're doing and do it now.  Bendis might be the best American comics writer of all time, and "Torso" might be the best book he's written.  It's an amazing story, told amazingly well, and Fincher is amazingly well-suited to direct it.  Even Ehren "Reindeer Games" Kruger can't harsh my buzz for this movie.  Okay, maybe a little.  But I have faith that Fincher will come through in the clutch.

Side note: anyone who's interested should pick up Bendis' graphic novel "Fortune and Glory", which is in part about his experiences trying to pitch "Torso" to the movie studios.  It's hilarious, and reinforces everything that you feared was wrong with the film industry.

[Gamblour.]

I've never read a graphic novel. Are these still good choices for me?

[polkablues]

I've never read a graphic novel. Are these still good choices for me?

Yes.  Ignore your preconceived notions of "comic books" and be willing to accept sequential art as a valid medium for serious storytelling.  "Fortune & Glory" will make you laugh, "Torso" will blow your mind.

[MacGuffin]

Exclusive Interview: Todd McFarlane on Torso
Recently announced as the producer for the upcoming project Torso based on the life of Eliot Ness post-Capone years, Todd McFarlane was kind enough to talk with the IESB about what he envisions for the film and who he would like to see cast in the title role.

Q: Congratulations on Torso, just wanted to start with a few questions from that, to you who would be the ideal Elliot Ness?

TM: Wow, you know it's interesting because Eliot Ness was a lot younger than people think he was, when he was in Chicago and he first started his job he was in his early 20's, I think Robert Stack was Eliot Ness in the Untouchables when I was a kid, he was a young guy I think he actually passed away at 44 so he was a kid, so some of the people that you think of, you could argue even Costner was too old for that role cause I think Ness was only like 26 when he put Capone away, he was kid. So now this is supposed to be taking place 6 or 7 years later, so mid 30's, it sort of opens it up a little bit but I think that a guy like, well one of the guys I think they are leaning towards in Matt Damon, Matt Damon sort of young enough and he has that boy charm that would work I mean if you are sort of talking big, sort of well known guys, a guy like DiCaprio sort of fits that bill too, young enough, flamboyant enough, you could fit that one that's there instead of going to an older guy, it's a young man's role like I said we need to bring that to people's attention how young this guy was when he did all that stuff.

Q: For the rest of the cast, are you looking at anyone already?

TM: I think what's gonna end up happening is with Fincher working on his movie Zodiac right now potentially having another one lined up right after that I think that we just go into the normal process of making a movie which is Ehren Kruger banging out this screenplay hopefully he can get it done in a decent amount of time and then all of a sudden all the studio notes come in and we see how extensive for rewrites and redrafts and all those other things have to come in by the time they get a screenplay in working order my guess is Fincher is done with Zodiac, that one is in the can and he's sittin' at a point, it will be interesting to see if the one he's got in development keeps moving or whether this one, if a good strong script comes and a fast one that the studios might say, hey, can you just jump this one a little bit ahead and get on this one before you do your next one and then obviously at that point everyone would get over seriously with the cast minus the star. Prior to that people are going to make a few phone calls and call a couple buddies and see what everybody's interest is on different things.

Q: Has the studio given you a certain budget?

TM: Usually they budget the movie obviously based on the screenplay but I know that the last conversation that I was involved with, with Fincher, he goes, it's a period piece there's a couple big sets here you know, I can't see doing it for less than 65 [million]. Especially if you got a star on it. Again, can you do it cheaper if you're doing it independent with a bunch of unknowns, yeah sure, but you know if you're going to make it a real movie then it's not gonna be a cheap movie to make, it's not going to be overly expensive but it's not gonna be a cheap one.

Q: How loyal is it going to stay to the graphic novel?

TM: You know, that will be interesting, my guess is it will be loyal in terms of sort of the big Hollywood moments which are part of the big folklore of this story and that were written about in the graphic novel. You know there are things that happen in this story that people will go, ugh that is so Hollywood, but it actually happened that way. I think that the trick here is, and Krugers task is how do you make this movie so you actually give a crap about the lead character and all the rest of it is a bit of a backdrop if you will…both the movie A History of Violence and Road to Perdition, both of those were comic-graphic novels, they were made up. In this case, Torso is based on real events, but again both of those were comic book movies that had a fair amount of violence if you step back and look at it. But I think what succeeded in both of those movies was that the screenwriter was able to actually make the movie about the lead character and you went ok, you know what, I know there is going to be some violence in both of those movies but he still got females to come to it, it wasn't your typical action movie if you will so I think that Kruger is going to have to get in there and say ok, I understand this happened and I understand this happened, I understand that Eliot Ness comes into town riding a white stallion with a white hat and by the end of all this, it's literally the deconstruction of a hero, and so if he can tap into us, going how do you go from having the world in your hand, what Eliot Ness had when he walked into Cleveland to basically being run out of town. How does that happen? And the sort of the killer part of all that is just, you know, a couple of the catalysts that are there. Otherwise, we are just going to get into a serial killer movie that we have seen a dozen times, and so that has to be sort of what we all have to try to accomplish.

Q: Did you see Sin City and do you think Fincher's Torso will use a combination of green screen and real sets?

TM: It's gonna be interesting because, again it's been a while since I talked to David, when he was first thinking about it he said this should be black and white, cause he read the novel, which is in black and white, and he was going ok cool, cool. But at that time, Sin City hadn't come out, it was just coming out and obviously there is the success of it. It will be interesting to see, I haven't checked in with him yet, but to see where his head is at you know. Let's see what happens with Zodiac, let's see where his mind is, he's gonna want to try and do something so he's not just repeating himself on what his previous serial killer movies are and that may be one of the trips he takes. But again, people get weird when you say it's gonna be a black and white movie. I mean Sin City worked, but I think that Sin City was also appealing to a certain crowd, where I think Torso is beyond that crowd. Torso could have more of that Road to Perdition crowd. It can be big and wide ranging and it's not about let's go see if we can get all the comic book crowd and all the people that just dig big stylistic kung fu movies, which is a big portion of the Sin City group. I don't know, we'll see how much the studios and everyone digs in their feet on what they think is going to come out of it. A lot of it is going to be predicated upon what Kruger writes too. I mean if he writes a very eloquent character driven story then maybe some of the visual tricks that may be in David's head may or may not work at that point.

[MacGuffin]

Torso Next for Fincher?
Plus, Oscar winner to reportedly star as Ness.

Se7en director David Fincher's next project will reportedly be the long-in-development adaptation of the Brian Michael Bendis graphic novel Torso. Ehren Kruger (The Ring) penned the screenplay adaptation.

According to The Plain Dealer, Paramount Pictures "wants to shoot Torso, a big-budget production that will star Matt Damon as Eliot Ness, early next year in Cleveland. But studio officials say they need incentives to film in the state."

Ness, who had previously brought down Chicago ganglord Al Capone, spearheaded the hunt for the serial killer dubbed the Cleveland Torso Murderer from 1935 to 1938. The killer was never captured and Ness' once promising career tragically ended in failure.

Torso producer Bill Mechanic advised the paper, "We want to shoot the entire movie, the interior and exterior shots, in Cleveland because that's where the action takes place and so we wouldn't have to relocate the crew. But without incentives, it doesn't look like we can afford it."

[Gamblour.]

Hm, a bit too much like Zodiac to me. There's a bit less procedure to it, but another serial killer nonetheless.

[RegularKarate]

after seeing how different Zodiak was from Seven, I have no issue with him doing another serial killer film.

[Gamblour.]

after seeing how different Zodiak was from Seven, I have no issue with him doing another serial killer film.

Well, yeah, Zodiac was very different from Seven. But we're talking about two stories that are obviously more similar, another period piece with an anonymous serial killer. I'm sure it will be fine, it's a good enough story, but it would have to really bring something beyond procedural to the table. I'm guessing they'll focus on the political ramifications via Ness to discern it. Zodiac did such a good job focusing on the aura of an unknown killer, it would be unwise for Fincher to do that again.

[Gold Trumpet]

after seeing how different Zodiak was from Seven, I have no issue with him doing another serial killer film.

Well, yeah, Zodiac was very different from Seven. But we're talking about two stories that are obviously more similar, another period piece with an anonymous serial killer. I'm sure it will be fine, it's a good enough story, but it would have to really bring something beyond procedural to the table. I'm guessing they'll focus on the political ramifications via Ness to discern it. Zodiac did such a good job focusing on the aura of an unknown killer, it would be unwise for Fincher to do that again.

It's better that this project sounds more like Zodiac because it will be a bigger challenge for Fincher to make the project its own. I believe he is very fearful of repitition in his career because that worry kept him from immediately taking on Zodiac, but if he's already going full steam into this project then I believe there are a lot of things about it that seem attractive. I think the fact it's being adapted from a graphic novel will make it unlike Zodiac.

[MacGuffin]

The Clock is Ticking for David Fincher's 'Ness'
Source: Cinematical

You know, sometimes I just don't understand Hollywood. You have to wonder who's making the decisions at Paramount these days, because David Fincher's Eliot Ness flick has all the makings of a profitable little film for the studio, but the project has been wasting away at Paramount since 2006. So despite having an all-star cast, including Matt Damon as Eliot Ness, Casey Affleck and Rachel McAdams, the production just can't seem to get off the ground. Unfortunately, the bad news just keeps on coming, and Entertainment Weekly reports that time is running out for the film.

News of the flick first hit back in 2006, when it was reported that Fincher was working on an adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis' graphic novel, Torso. Bendis' novel centered on, "a series of brutal murders that took place in the Cleveland area between 1935 and 1938, and were investigated by Ness, who was by then the Public Safety Director of Cleveland." There is still no confirmation on whether Fincher will be using Bendis' novel, but EW reports that Paramount has "...recently received a finalized script from Ehren Kruger (The Ring) and would make a decision before the rights ran out." (By the way, the rights run out on December 15th.)

Fincher hasn't always had the easiest relationship with Paramount, but according to gossips at Deadline Hollywood Daily, the real problem was a certain food comedy that Fincher had already signed for. According to DHD, "A source close to team Fincher has told me that Fincher is ready to make the picture immediately but can't get an answer out of Paramount because -- ready?-- production execs prefer that Fincher make a Keanu Reeves chef comedy instead. " Ahem, this would be that chef comedy. Are they serious? Nothing personal against Neo in a Toque blanche, but I know which film I would rather see -- how about you?

[Fernando]

"A source close to team Fincher has told me that Fincher is ready to make the picture immediately but can't get an answer out of Paramount because -- ready?-- production execs prefer that Fincher make a Keanu Reeves chef comedy instead. " Ahem, this would be that chef comedy. Are they serious? Nothing personal against Neo in a Toque blanche, but I know which film I would rather see -- how about you?

I like that Chef idea, it seems so 180º for Fincher that I'm excited at how he will approach the material, besides:


neo + finchman + food = bethie as an extra, ergo, an insider xixax scoop!

[MacGuffin]

Par lets David Fincher pic rights lapse
Studio talking new deal with 'Torso' comic writers
Source: Hollywood Reporter

This is how tight industry purse strings have become: You can deliver a $100 million-plus critical success that secures a baker's dozen Oscar nominations, and your next green light is still no sure thing.

So it is with Oscar-nominated director David Fincher and "Torso," a project Paramount has had on its docket since January 2006 that has drawn interest from stars Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. But even with the success of Fincher's recent "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," the studio allowed the rights option on "Torso's" underlying graphic novel to lapse, leaving the project in limbo.

The "Torso" graphic novel was written by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Andreyko. It's a crime thriller that tells the true story of Treasury Department agent Eliot Ness' time after his Al Capone days.

The comic was first optioned by "Spawn" creator Todd McFarlane, who had Bendis and Andreyko pen their own script at Dimension. Later, producer Don Murphy came on board and went to producer Bill Mechanic and his Pandemonium shingle, which brought in Fincher, who made "Fight Club" when Mechanic was head of Fox. In early 2006, they took the package to Paramount, which hired Ehren Kruger to adapt it.

Last month, Paramount's ability to extend the rights option as part of the original deal expired, which would have then required the studio to purchase the rights outright to retain them -- a price the studio apparently was unwilling to shell out. While the studio still owns Kruger's screenplay, it is in discussions potentially to strike a new option agreement with the comic's writers, to whom the rights reverted. (Fincher and the producers remain attached.)

Given the Ness story line's basis in reality, one could argue that a public-domain version of it could be developed using similar material. But in the age of the industry-shaking legal tussle between Warner Bros. and Fox over "Watchmen," it's unlikely that Paramount would take that type of risk.

One source indicated that Fincher has been keen on making the project and expressed confusion as to why Paramount would dither. But given the projects and personnel that the belt-tightening Brad Grey-run studio shed last year, it's not surprising that it would balk at committing to another big-budget production at year's end.

Fincher's reputation as aperfection-driven director often has ruffled studio feathers, and he's not one to roll cameras for eight-digit budgets. ("Button" rang up a $150 million-$175 million tab.)

Just the same, Paramount is unlikely to let the project slip through its fingers. In addition to "Button," it also made "Zodiac" with Fincher. But if it did, any number of studios likely would jump at the chance to get in the Fincher business.

"It's a weird and odd situation," Bendis said. "We heard it was greenlit one day, then the next we heard it wasn't. Hopefully, it'll have a happy ending."

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Rachel McAdams Suggests David Fincher's 'Torso' All But Dead? For Now?...
Source: The Playlist

David Fincher's "Torso" project has been mostly dead or treading water for a while now even after a few false starts with Matt Damon, Casey Affleck and Rachel McAdams linked to roles.

When recently asked about the project, McAdams seemingly confirmed that she was at least in talks at one point, but it appears as if that ship has sailed.

"I don't know what's going on with that project. I don't know that it's actually happening," said McAdams. "[Fincher] might be doing something else."

Fincher's attention of late has been circling the Facebook-movie "The Social Network," so is "Torso" past the point of no return or just shelved for now? It doesn't feel like a project with even a pulse, but you never know. The "Torso" graphic novel writer Brian Michael Bendis was still holding onto hope earlier this year noting that the project "hasn't died" promising fans the graphic novel will see a film adaptation one day. Sans Fincher? Would this project even be relevant or desired as much if that were the case? Last we heard in January, Paramount had let the rights to "Torso" lapse, but in February, the producer Bill Mechanic (who who was an integral force in getting "Fight Club" to the screen) still said the projects wasn't quite dead. We can probably file this one under quietly dormant for now though Mechanic and co. are probably still trying to make progress on it.